Notes on a creeping cynicism

Day 4,540, 19:24 • Published in USA USA • by barbarbar6

It's been interesting to have been able to see the start of my party's rise from second to first place, as I have been here since before the WTP party really blew up. I remember when I started it was certainly in a great place, but only now has it reached the point where we have seen the electoral benefits. The success in the congressional elections today, for anyone watching, was not a surprise for anyone on the outside or the inside. Now, it has attracted claims of cheating and bots and vote manipulation, and I do not think that this is an unreasonable claim, but I think a bit of perspective would help bring this claim into a reasonable doubt with a bit of my perspective from inside the party.

First off, the reason I joined the WTP is because I was attracted by who was currently the president when I joined the game, chickensguys. It's important to note that new players are attracted by which party they think will allow them a voice and a chance, and usually that will be the one with the most power. Last month, every single party except WTP supported Paul or another candidate against Groot, but Groot still won, closely, but still won. Any new player seeing this would understand that this means that WTP is the dominant party and therefore be attracted to them, even if they didn't understand the benefits Groot had as an incumbent and following up on chickenguys' term. This election, I think, really kickstarted the major confidence the WTP had to really increase recruitment and try to leverage this win for themselves.

Second off, the current events have caused people to stay home, obviously. As COVID-19 has ravaged the globe new players and old players have come to the game simply trying to relieve their boredom. This coincided with a massive recruitment drive by the party. If you were a new player, you probably got a message from a WTP member talking about how great the party was for new players and how welcome you were to join the party, while you probably just got radio silence from every other party.

Speaking of radio silence, look at the articles that have been published recently. WTP has been by far the most active in the media module, which is also one of the first places a new player looks to get their standing on what is going on in politics. The proportion of articles written by WTP is immense compared to the other parties, especially the Federalists, who were the only party that started out the month with a larger amount of members than WTP. This paints a picture of one active party versus four stagnant ones. Is this true? No, but to a player who is outside these parties, it might as well be. On this game, there is a transient population, people who play the game for two to three months and then leave. WTP has been able to seize these people in a very critical time where this population has grown. I don't think this burst in activity is even permanent.

I still think something is a bit fishy, though. I think perhaps the growth is mostly accounted for, but a bit is still not, and I think that the WTP should embrace any investigations that might happen. But to go into the country shoutbox and accuse an entire party of being bots is completely ridiculous. What it does is alienate an entire section of the population that newly voted for the WTP party by calling them robots when they know they are not. Now is not the time for rampant cynicism, but for community, for activity, and for an introspection for every party to try to understand how they can bring that to the table for every player.

Good night, and good luck.